Chambard 40-1 for Grand National after providing amateur Lucy Turner with 'absolute dream' success in Becher Chase

Lucy Turner must have thought her Cheltenham Festival victory on Chambard could never be eclipsed, but she hit even greater heights on the same willing partner by becoming the first female rider to win the Becher Chase over the fabled Grand National fences.

The 30-year-old amateur could barely contain her delight at causing another major surprise after gaining a historic success on the Venetia Williams-trained 11-year-old, who was the joint-oldest runner in the line-up.

The pair, who combined to win last year's Kim Muir at 40-1, drew clear in the home straight to score by 13 lengths from topweight Coko Beach at odds of 18-1. 

Asked whether victory meant more than Cheltenham, Turner said: "Yes, I think so. Aintree is such a marvellous place and to have a winner like this is an absolute dream.

"I've always wanted to ride a winner over these fences and to do it on him means the world. He's been fantastic for me. I'm so pleased for his owners Dave and Carol [Shaw] because they've been such great supporters of mine and it's nice to get another big one on him."

The race was run in attritional conditions and the lead changed hands many times before Turner took it up five fences from home, the bright yellow chevron on her silks clearly visible in the gloom.

Approaching the last two fences, Chambard extended his lead, his jumping the whole way round belying his lack of experience on this demanding course.

"He's not jumped these fences before, so it was very much a case of seeing how he takes to them," said Turner. "I thought if he jumped the way he did round Cheltenham here he'd be fine and as soon as we were over the first couple, I knew he was loving it.

"He kept galloping and as soon as they came to him he quickened again. I could hear them coming and he's just gone on again."

Chambard: won the Becher under Lucy TurnerCredit: GROSSICK RACING

Turner has been a key part of the Williams stable for around 15 years and was riding out for the Herefordshire trainer when she famously won the Grand National in 2009 with 100-1 shot Mon Mome.

Chambard was introduced into the Grand National betting at 40-1 by Paddy Power, while the same firm cut his Welsh Grand National price to 14-1 (from 33).

Only five horses finished in the heavy ground and Coko Beach ran a gallant race under 12 stone, minus Danny Gilligan's 5lb claim.  

The jockey said: "It was a massive run giving away a lot of weight to the others. He doesn't mind that ground, it was just tough work with all that weight on him. 

"He jumped for fun. He's a dream ride, he travels and he jumps and he keeps going."

For the second year in a row, Percussion filled third place to go with a second and a third in the last two runnings of the Grand Sefton.

Trainer Laura Morgan said: "I was quite worried about the heavy ground as it was ten times worse than his run here last month. He jumped class and I'm delighted with him. He nearly got up for second, he's very genuine and galloped all the way to the line."

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